Pet Gear “The Other Door Steel Crate”

We bought one of these crates from Orvis, for use in a vacation home where we don’t want to leave a crate set up all the time. It comes in three sizes: Small (21Hx27Lx18W), Medium (27Hx36Lx24W) and Large (28Hx42Lx28W). The crate arrived assembled, so I spent some time learning how to collapse it and set it up again.

Things I like? I love all the door options, I like being able to collapse it into a small suitcase-sized package that can be stowed in a closet, and I’m glad that it’s a hard crate (the Creature Leisure Den that we’ve been using can be clawed through by a bored dog). Once it’s set up, it’s a pretty sturdy structure.

Things I don’t like? It’s a bit cheesily constructed. The door clips and latches in particular are plastic and flimsier than I’d like. Pet Gear must anticipate that the clips will come off, since they provide an extra — a nice, but ominous touch. The “garage” door that swings up and slides out of the way also tends to drop out of its tracks during assembly (an insert provides directions for getting the door back on its tracks). The storage case is not big enough also to hold the comfort pad (the pad itself is nice, but it would be even nicer to be able to store it with the crate).

This is a good crate for occasional use. I worry that the plastic clips and latches wouldn’t hold up to everyday use for long, but they’ll work for our purposes.

Word of warning on this crate. It will NOT contain a high-energy dog. Every dog I have put in this crate has broken out of it in 5 minutes. The “garage-type” door pops right off when I dog puts pressure against it. Also, the front & back doors can be easily bent & opened – my cattle dog has figured this out.

So if you are relying on this crate to secure your dog, forget about it.
But if you want something that looks pretty in your house and have a dog who just wants a comfy place to sleep, by all means go for it.

I bought TWO. I’m sorry I wasted the money. But hey, they look better than metal crates in my house.